Chereads / The Story of Rhodan / Chapter 22 - The Seers and the Oracle

Chapter 22 - The Seers and the Oracle

Amy comforted Viola, who fell asleep on her bed after crying a lot, then went to the secret hatch to check up on her project, who are fully fed, before closing it. She looked at her notebook where she wrote down that Alina has left. That part of her goal is finally over. Harry Rockwell is also now a part of Leon's inner circle but it seems he is keeping him in arms length, only keeping Rufus close.

Viola has decided to take up archery and started practicing magic which uses high accuracy and precision to train her high spatial awareness and sixth sense after their mother cut off Viola's hope of becoming a princess by telling the news that Melissa was chosen. But instead of being disappointed or upset, she was actually happy for her. In fact, she got so excited that she sent out the invitation to the Hurst's residence first. But right now, Alina's departure was ill timed so no one is particularly in a mood to be excited for anything although they are still making preparations.

Amy then wrote her next concern; the queen. Their mother told them that they will visit the palace a few times with Melissa who would be a frequent visitor to the palace to receive royal lessons. Other than excitement from Viola, Amy has some concerns and a realization. In the story, all the noble ability users around Leon's age know him and are acquainted with him. This must be the queen's doing. At first it seems like a coincidence in the story but it looks like this arrangement is intentional.

It didn't occur to Amy to realize why the queen might be doing this, but her mentioning the oracle made sense. In the story, Leon openly mocks and despises the oracle and rarely listens to her because of the nonsense and prophecies she seemingly spews for attention. One of them that he mentioned from his childhood was that his baby cousin who was just recently born will become king. It became a secret that only a few people know. In the story, his name is Paul Rex and is the grandson of the Royal Duke Sylvester. He is extremely powerful and is in par with Leon in terms of power but he is friendly and laidback with no ambition for the throne. After Leon died, the prophecy came true and Paul became king after him. But the reason is not because of an insurrection as was initially believed. He became king because Leon knew he would die and his children are far too young to run a country.

Solin doesn't have a major religion, but they do believe in the existence of angels and demons. Even though they are extinct, the effect that it has on the people haven't diminished. It comes in the form of folk religion or certain practices. Divination is said to be one of the angel's gifts to humanity and there is a temple dedicated to training people to become seers.

The oracle is a lifelong title to the most powerful seer in the kingdom. Amy doesn't know the process of becoming the oracle but the training required to see through the future is different from just having magic or having a power. Seers are chosen among the commoners at a young age and trained until they reach adulthood. The seers role in the kingdom is to work together and predict any future anomalies, disasters or problems in general that the central government could take measures against before they happen. They are known for being neutral since their role is literally just to show and tell. But the process of becoming a seer is a dark secret kept by the headquarters themselves. For the seers themselves, it has major drawbacks; permanent blindness and constant drug use.

One of Aron's companions was a seer trainee/survivor from Hekaton name Saoirse. Her backstory is that she was an orphan who was taken from the streets, constantly forced to consume hallucinatory drugs for years while being locked in a perpetual dark room as part of her training before being able to see her first prophecy and light. She struggles with her deteriorating eyesight as she is only able to see small prophecies. She hasn't lost her eyesight completely until the end of the story where she dies.

Amy gently tapped her finger on the desk as she thinks. That chapter was called Goodbye Day. This girl has been cut off from the outside world and hasn't seen the sun in years. With this lack of information, she cannot do anything about the seers but-

she has no intention of saving them either.

In addition to those problems, the seers are also not quite neutral as they are supposed to be and take advantage of their future sight to make and influence decisions that could go horribly wrong either by misinterpreting a prophecy or even telling it to the wrong people. Leon openly hates this system for that reason. Divination isn't entirely accurate nor easy to understand and it only creates more suffering and problems than solve them. Amy is quite aware of this but the truth is that she's stumped. Saoirse escaped her situation all on her own and was found by Leon who rescued and protected her. Nothing in her backstory gave her any hints on their whereabouts. The Seer's headquarters are a state secret and the individuals themselves are recluse and rarely come out except when they have to announce a prophecy.

If the Seers in Solin are that bad then the ones in Hekaton are far worse. The seers there are basically seen as the messenger of the gods. Their authority matches the royal family as equal in the eyes of the people but they influence every decision in politics and even the inner court and take down any who deny them. They're more like a cult than a religion and they don't hide the fact that they need followers to become seers like them. The people volunteer for them blindly in an ironic sense.

In the story, the seers were all assassinated by Rufus, who discovered their location, offscreen. Their methods, training, power and secrets all died with them. It wasn't explained why but it was theorized that it was a preemptive measure so that his enemies wouldn't use their power against him. Another one is that he wanted a solution and sought them out, only to hear something he didn't like and killed everyone in retaliation.

In addition to playing a heavy role in politics, they take advantage of their literal, religious and political power they have over the people and gain their support, kidnap innocent children, train them until they are heavily reliant on drugs which blind them. Leon made it clear that they are heavily corrupt and something he cannot get rid of so easily even though he is king. Even Rufus believed that they are useless folks who believe in gods that do not exist. Aron thinks they are old geezers who think they're worldly but are just manipulating the cards for their benefit. They cause a lot of problems to Aron and his friends and annoy the hell out of everyone including the audience. They believed Aron to be a problem to Solin even though they misinterpreted their own prophecy.

Amy thinks carefully. As much as she wants to search for the Seers, she has to wait til she is older to explore anywhere she wants and that is when she graduates from the Magic Academy. Even though they are a terrible force of nature, they are necessary to Aron's character development. Despite how horrible it is, her mission to make Aron the titular character still stands strong despite also wanting to fix this whole damn mess.